My grandfather made a malted corn whiskey, and he's dead so he can't be arrested for it..

And I saw it done once. For many years it was the only thing I knew of whiskey making, and his very strong opinions about 'the right way' to make it were my first impressions of drinking alcohol. Even before I ever saw a beer.. (my family didn't keep alcohol in the house).

So, Granpa made whiskey out of sprouted white corn, dried out over an oak stick & corncob smoldering fire.. like a smoke house laid on edge..

which is smoked, malted grain, even if the grain isn't the usual one.

And he ground it twice, and he took two mashes off the same grist, adding a bit of fresh meal and (less) water the 2nd time..

And he stilled the feints and slobbers of the first stilling with the 2nd mash.. and mixed both those and ran it through again.. for 'the real thing' as he called it.

I never heard him call it anything but likker. 'Real Likker'
would have been the label on it, and he could eyeball a cut to 100 proof without even thinking about it.

He sold it in mason jars, and it tasted like almost nothing till after you'ld swallowed.. and then it was clean and oily and a little bit sweet and the warm started in your belly and climbed up.

And I sure would like to know who makes anything at all, with malted white corn. If there is such a thing..

It sounds like your grandfather knew what he was doing. Lucky you. A neat memory.

Without question, corn (i.e., maize) can be malted and whiskey can be made from 100% malted corn as well as from a mixture of malted and unmalted corn.

My assumption is that malted barley is used primarily because it is readily available, due to its ubiquitous use in brewing.

A couple of micro-distillers are using malted corn, either alone or in combination with unmalted corn. They include Belmont Farm (www.virginiamoonshine.com) and the Tuthilltown Gristmill. (http://www.tuthilltown.com)

JeffRenner

05-29-2006, 09:14

A couple of micro-distillers are using malted corn, either alone or in combination with unmalted corn. They include Belmont Farm (www.virginiamoonshine.com) and the Tuthilltown Gristmill. (http://www.tuthilltown.com)
This is very interesting. Has anyone here tasted either of these? (A quick search came up empty - as a matter of fact, this thread was the only hit for Tuthilltown).

Jeff

Rughi

05-29-2006, 09:38

..Has anyone here tasted either of these? (A quick search came up empty - as a matter of fact, this thread was the only hit for Tuthilltown). Jeff

One problem is that Belmont Farms is a somewhat obscure search term for their two products, Virginia Lightning and Copper Fox.

Bay Area people sampled Virginia Moonshine along with some other excellent corn whiskies at a Saturday Study Group (http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4386&page=2) some time back (posts 78-84), and I wrote of my good times in Virginia here (http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=56326&postcount=72). I will note that the notes taken are more social than tasting. We should be better about that, - eh, Doug?

Roger

JeffRenner

05-29-2006, 13:36

Bay Area people sampled Virginia Moonshine along with some other excellent corn whiskies at a Saturday Study Group (http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4386&page=2) some time back (posts 78-84), and I wrote of my good times in Virginia here (http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=56326&postcount=72). I will note that the notes taken are more social than tasting. We should be better about that, - eh, Doug?

I did (re)discover those posts in my search, but was hoping to have some tasting comments. I'll look forward to seeing them if you do an actual tasting.

I really enjoyed rereading about how well you were treated in Virginia.